Welcome To The Person with Bipolar Disorder page

This area includes information for those with bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder bipolar type who want information on how to treat and manage bipolar disorder symptoms. You will find information on life with a bipolar diagnosis, help with mania, depression, anxiety, psychosis and more. This page uses the system in Julie’s book Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder. The goal is managing bipolar disorder so that you can work, go to school, have a family and enjoy your relationships. You can reach your goals and have a stable life.

Julie's

BIPOLAR PROTOCOL FOR YOUR GOALS AND DREAMS

There is a general bipolar disorder treatment and management protocol on the homepage. The protocol below is more personal. It shares Julie’s plan for the stable life. Bipolar is an illness that affects pretty much everything. Learning to manage the illness takes time and yes, you do need to treat this medically, but what about the way bipolar affects your goals and dreams? What about your need to be in the world without getting sick? The strategies below can help.

How to

Use Julie's books in your life

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder teaches a management and prevention plan that has been used around the world since 2006. It was the first book to teach management skills to people with bipolar and is the gold standard for the system used by most people today. It includes the original bipolar triggers list, information on sleep and diet, communication skills, how to work with health Care professionals and Julie’s life saving Bipolar Disorder Significant Seven list on substances that affect the brain. There are caregiver sections throughout the book for those who want to help you manage the illness. The second edition shares Julie’s research into recognizing mania in the eyes, the ketogenic metabolic diet and the effects of cannabis on the bipolar brain.

Getting It Done When You’re Depressed

This practical and life changing book teaches you how to get on with your day even when movement feels impossible. The title says depression, but the book is also effective for anxiety and the attention and focus symptoms that are so common in bipolar disorder.

Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder

Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder: Understanding and Helping Your Partner helps your partner come up with a plan to help them manage how bipolar affects their lives. Bipolar doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This illness affects those around you and the best way to address this reality is to ask your partner to tell you what they need. The book helps them understand how the illness affects you and the relationship. Loving is not for the person with bipolar disorder. Instead, Julie wrote the book from the perspective of the partner. The book is based off of her partner’s illness and eventual diagnosis with bipolar disorder. She brings a perspective of the illness from both sides and teaches the reader how to create a stable and loving relationship with you. This is a hopeful and life affirming book that creates stable relationships.

Bipolar Disorder Article & Video

Resources

The homepage has many resources on bipolar disorder treatment and management while Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder has a plan you can use daily to find some brain peace. The help on this page focuses on your personal experience with bipolar disorder in terms of work and school, relationships and creating a stable life. If you’re unsure about the bipolar diagnosis, here’s an article to get you started.

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder works to help you figure out how to recognize and manage the symptoms of bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder. The following is an excerpt from the Bipolar Significant Seven chapter where I share my list of the seven substances that can negatively affect the bipolar brain. This includes the reason cannabis marijuana is such a difficult substance for those with bipolar to manage. 

Here are the substances you will learn about in the book. It’s life changing information and is based off of my work with many tens of thousands of people around the world who have shared their stories while we work together as well as my own experience as a person with bipolar disorder and a psychotic disorder.  You can also use this list to help a loved one prevent mood swings and ultimately teach it to any family member who is genetically predisposed to developing bipolar disorder.  

1
Stimulants
2
Sex and reproductive hormones
3
Steroids
4
Prescription medications
5
Hallucinogens
6
Supplements
7
Social drugs

Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder also includes a window into what it’s like to live with the illness. It shares the management and communication system Julie created over 25 years ago that is now used by millions of people around the world. You can use this plan to create the life you want.

EXCERPT FROM TAKE CHARGE OF BIPOLAR DISORDER

Good Intentions, Bipolar Results

It’s essential that you become a bipolar brain detective who investigates anything you put in and on your body to check for bipolar disorder safety. This is one of the most natural and inexpensive ways to prevent mood swings. You can be kind to yourself for being human and wanting to use substances to feel better and at the same time focus on finding relief in a way that doesn’t make your bipolar disorder worse. Your good intentions don’t have to create bipolar disorder results. You can address your very human needs in a way that maintains stability. Here are the categories in The Bipolar Significant Seven:

1. Stimulants
2. Hormones
3. Steroids
4. Prescribed Medications
5. Hallucinogenics
6. Supplements
7. Social drugs

The vast majority of the items in these categories have legitimate uses. The list is educational and intended for you, your loved ones, and your health care team to explore together. The substances on The Bipolar Significant Seven affect the neurotransmitters that affect the bipolar brain including serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, GABA, and acetylcholine. Once you have the information on how a substance might affect bipolar disorder, you can make a decision on whether to avoid or use a substance with care.

You Have a Bipolar Disorder Brain

Substances on The Bipolar Significant Seven list can be natural or synthetic. Your bipolar brain doesn’t differentiate between the two. Any substance on the list whether it be naturally grown or synthetically created can affect your bipolar brain by affecting brain chemistry. Health care professionals including western-based and natural-based professionals rarely have training on how these substances affect the bipolar brain. It might be the first time they see the list as well. You can learn about it together. You will need to be discerning when reading product marketing that claims a substance is great for depression, anxiety, focus problems, pain, muscle growth, or getting better sleep. You will very likely have to carefully wade through advice about substances from well-meaning friends and family who want you to “treat bipolar disorder naturally” without understanding the sensitive nature of your bipolar brain. Accepting this sets you free to see substances as potentially helpful for you, but only after you do the research into their safety for bipolar disorder.

Under each category there is a suggestion to either avoid the substance or use the substance with caution along with a plan to manage bipolar disorder symptoms. This usually includes talking with a bipolar disorder professional for guidance. Never forget, you decide what goes in and on your body. You can approach this chapter with the spirit of discovery. No one decides this for you. When you understand how substances affect your bipolar brain, you can make bipolar safe decisions and do what works for you.